biography

Joost

 

Krijnen

Breda

,

1983

Lives and works in Amsterdam

Joost Krijnen's oeuvre is about drawing, its meaning and the stretching of its possibilities. Compared to other classical media, such as painting or ceramics, drawing is without forgiveness; acrylic on canvas can be painted over, a line on paper is a line on paper.

This fact is embraced by Krijnen like no other. By making piles of drawings, the artist finds form, transforms it and releases it again. Spontaneous lines become faces and hands, beaks and masks, accidents become coincidences but one line too many means a new A4.

If one has to sum up Krijnen's oeuvre of recent years with one subject, it is mimicry. In his search for forms, the draughtsman constantly finds the faces of animals, people and masks balancing on the edge of the caricatural, but often far beyond it; Krijnen's creatures startle, laugh, amaze and get angry.

Recently, Krijnen has also begun working on canvas. Here he explores and finds possibilities that the drawn line and paper deny him. Although a painting begins and ends with the same spontaneity and fluidity as his drawings, the different ways of handling paint and layering fuel a whole new capacity for improvisation.

works

Frightened Ocean Dwelling Spirit
,
2024
acrylic on canvas
60 x 50 cm
La Pantoufle
,
2024
acrylic and colored pencil on paper
124,5 x 100,5 cm
Neue Welle
,
2024
acrylic and graphite on gesso on canvas
200 x 150 cm
Frutti di Mare
,
2024
acrylic and graphite on gesso on canvas
200 x 150 cm
A Bigger Injury
,
2024
acrylic and pencil on paper
140 x 100 cm
Airs and Dances
,
2024
acrylic and pencil on paper
140 x 100 cm
La Bruxelloise
,
2024
acrylic and colored pencil on paper
32 x 24 cm
Quelle Mélodie?
,
2022
colored pencil on paper
32 x 24 cm
Wordless Humming
,
2023
colored pencil on paper
32 x 24 cm

CV Highlights

Riparian Figuration
Kate Art Space
Amsterdam
,
2023
Dying Breath Breda Thingy
TTHQ
Rotterdam
,
2019
Joost Krijnen
Galerie Mirko Mayer
Cologne, DE
,
2017
Paper Thoughts and Gravity
FORMATOCOMODO
Madrid, ES
,
2017
Rijksakademie OPEN 2014
Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten
Amsterdam
,
2014
Rijksakademie OPEN 2013
Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten
Amsterdam
,
2013

gallery exhibitions & fairs

Art on Paper Brussels 2024
fair
October 3, 2024
 -
October 6, 2024
NAP+ | WALDEN
fair
September 12, 2024
 -
September 15, 2024
Choir of Nonsense
solo exhibition
May 30, 2024
 -
July 6, 2024
ART ROTTERDAM 2024
fair
January 31, 2024
 -
February 4, 2024
KABINETT
group exhibition
August 18, 2023
 -
September 2, 2023
ART ISLAND 2023
fair
May 26, 2023
 -
May 28, 2023